No Testimony Without Test

The older we get, the responsibilities and challenges we face get bigger and more difficult. Just when things have finally been going well for a while, something or someone comes along and turns our world upside down.

I’m sure you have heard the wise saying passed down from older generations that, “There is no testimony without a test.” A lot of times during tranquil moments, we stop praying or thinking about what God has done for us. We stop thanking Him and then when a “test” comes along we start calling on Him and expect Him to come running! God wants to know if we can trust him even in the midst of our troubles, heartbreaks, disappointments, grief, whatever it may be! How is He going to find that out or develop that in us, if we are not tested? He wants us to love Him all the time and not just for what He can do for us. Some people, including me at times, take on these victimized mentalities which cloud the things which should be the true focus. “What did I do to deserve this?” “Why is this happening to me now of all times?” I look at my plate and how full it is and I get overwhelmed! I don’t need to look at the plate though, I need to look to God and remember that He can do the impossible!

The tests that we encounter in life are essential to helping us appreciate good times more, teaching us life lessons and giving us a testimony to share. Whenever you find yourself dealing with really difficult times, remember that in order for there to be a valley, there has to be two mountains

An Old Poem

I was just going through my emails and found an old poem of mine.

I thought it was pretty good so I figured I'd share it with whoever it is that
visits my page.

Here you go, a little Vintage Jonny:

Media had taken me away from me
Confused and unsure of what i wanted to be
Categorized peers made being myself tough
Retaining my own image had also been a little rough
I was the shortest in my class, looking up to everyone
Spoke with a high pitch tone, I sounded like Maryon

Now I'm me myself and I know where i fit in society
Im optimistic about my future and have created a path to fidelity
I've also become more of an individual, going in my own direction
I am ok, but i know i will soon be in need of some love and affection.
Finally, I am looking down on others, and my voice has changed
To fanticise is a hobby, which is kinda strange.
But through all of this, I've learned one main thing
__________________________________________________________
I think I was looking ahead in this poem
Because the 2nd part seems as if i was saying it now, but this
was all written in the same time.

It almost stands correct. Other than the "voice has changed" part

Hahaha...

until next time people. Take care

Words from a friend of mine :)

I had nothing to say on love today so i figured I'd find someone that did -

Girls that depend on guys for everything, ain't shit.

Driving you everywhere.
Paying for everything.
Gives you money all the time expecting you to pay him back but you don’t.
Buys all your drinks at the club, although you have your own money.
Even if he doesn't offer to buy you make it seem like he has to.

If you don't have a job? Get one.
If you don't have money at the time... Pay him back.
If you're just lazy and cheap, well then your just waste.

Yeah, sometimes it’s cute, sweet and expected.
But bitches take things for granted and they feel as if their the shit because a MAN buys you everything you have.
"Yeah my mans pays my phone bill, he drives me to mall whenever, blahblahblah, he buys my clothes."
Shut up, you sound so worthless.

But appreciate it and do over do it is all I'm saying.
But you have to show him what's good, show him what your capable of.
It's a much better turn on.
Independence, is the hottest thing.

Written by: A friend of mine

Favorite Film - Pursuit of Happiness

“Don’t ever let someone tell you that you can’t do something. Not even me. You got a dream, you gotta protect it. People can’t do something themselves, they wanna tell you that you can’t do it. You want something? Go get it. Period.”

-Chris Gardner (played by Will Smith in The Pursuit of Happyness)

This quote encompasses one of the greatest lessons that we will ever learn in life. Nothing that is worthwhile comes easily. You should never let trivial things stop you from getting whatever it is that you want! No successful person lets stumbling blocks or unsupportive people get in the way of them reaching their goals. Those types of things differentiate people who are dedicated to reaching their goals and people who are just hoping that things will fall into their laps. If you haven’t already done so, think about things that you want to change or achieve 6 months from now, a year from now and so on. Make a plan of how you are going to accomplish this and put the plan into action. Easier said than done? Of course it is! Impossible? Definitely not. You can do anything that you put your mind to…

Keep this in mind when it comes to anything in life and its very likely that good things will happen to you.

Our So-Called 'Imperfections'

We are not perfect…and we are not meant to be or expected to be. You’ve heard this before, right? So then why do we spend so much time trying to make others think that we are perfect and lead the perfect lives? In striving for ‘perfection’ sometimes it is easy to neglect our problems and weaknesses, which if not addressed, will continue to hinder us from that ‘perfection.’ So many of us fail to acknowledge that we have problems and issues because in doing so, we also acknowledge that we are not perfect. But, as we quickly figure out–problems do not fix themselves or go away with time. They may ‘go away’ temporarily but sooner or later you will find yourself in the same place with the same problem you started with. As Albert Einstein once wisely said, “Insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.” There comes a point when enough is enough and problems must be addressed, no matter how painful or difficult it may be. In facing your fears, weaknesses and imperfections, you will find yourself becoming more confident, stronger and more in order for success!

For example, let’s say that there’s a hypothetical young girl. She doesn’t like being alone and therefore is constantly searching for a person to fill that void and tends to lower her standards just to satisfy her WANT of not being alone. (Note the use of want vs. need) So she ends up with the company that she wanted, but they are not compatible with her because in the rush to fill that void, she neglected really getting to know that person better. She lowered her standards by allowing that person to get closer to her, but her true standards still exist and cause trouble in the relationship because her needs and expectations are not being met. The relationship then comes to its inevitable end and she is unfortunately back where she started. She has placed most of the blame for the situation on the other person’s inadequacies or immaturity. This allows her to feel better about herself by identifying other people’s weaknesses but not her own. And then along comes the next rebound guy…

Once she addresses her problem, she can figure out why she doesn’t like being alone and work towards developing a solution to her problem. As the causes vary, the solutions will too so there isn’t one set answer. She may have some abandonment issues from her childhood. She may have gotten out of a long term relationship and forgotten how to be alone. She may not have very high self esteem and uses the company of others to help validate herself. Once she takes the time to try to understand herself and her actions more, she can begin to ensure that she does not become the perfect example of Albert Einstein’s definition of insanity—destined to forever repeat the same meaningless cycle.

I think that the major part of our aspirations for perfection and success should be in identifying and dealing with the imperfections first, lest we not repeat the same mistakes! Take off the mask you are hiding under that prevents you from living a happier, more fulfilling life!

Walk away from drama...

Focus on money or somthing this year, avoid drama

There are people and things in this world that are extremely important and then there are people and things that aren’t. Unfortunately, distinguishing between the two can sometimes be a bit ambiguous and difficult. As a result, sometimes time and energy is wasted on irrelevant people and trivial things that in time won’t even matter anymore. The world is full of them…the fake, the haters, the unreliable, the inconsiderate, the unappreciative, and the list goes on. They are everywhere spreading their ‘trash’. There is no way to escape interactions with them. So then how do we deal?

If you come at these negative people with more negativity, it’s a sure fire way to perpetuate the negativity. I see this happen way too often and it really gets under my skin. If you really don’t care about someone and have moved on from something that they have done to you, you don’t need to corroborate it with words…it will be very apparent through your actions. You don’t need to put them on blast on social networks or anything else like that—it’s childish and has the opposite intended message. It’s not your job or responsibility to “make them pay” or teach them a lesson. When you set out to hurt people, most times you end up hurting yourself more or just looking childish like I said before. You also cannot teach anyone anything that they don’t want to learn.

Often times, dramatic people will target people who they think will help feed their need for drama. They enjoy being mad, complaining and arguing but would like you to think otherwise with their bogus claims of hating drama and having a low tolerance for people with the same negative characteristics they possess. People like that are just unhappy with themselves and try to spread the unhappiness to in some twisted way deal with their own feelings of inadequacies.

My suggestion is to just be the bigger person. It may seem like the better choice at the time would be to lash out and let your anger get the best of you but that is temporary. With that, in the end you are left with nothing. When you walk away, you leave foolishness right where you found it and your precious time and energy can be redirected to bigger and better things

Hurt?

Hurt and disappointment inflicted by others is an inevitable experience that we all must face at some point in our lives. Someone you trust, care about or maybe even love is going to let you down. You probably wondered why and what you did to deserve such treatment. These experiences, however, can potentially serve as lifelong lessons…if you let them. I have posted three common culprits.

The “Can’t Get Over the Past” Type People: There are just people in the world who are bitter, plain and simple. Someone hurt them or mistreated them so they vow to not invest their own emotions in people anymore. This is a mistake because they are making the world pay for the ignorant actions of a single person…or maybe they’ve been hurt by more than one person–who knows? Of the millions of people in the world, you think they are all out to get you? It’s quite silly and I’m not trying to downplay or discredit any trauma anyone has experienced in their lives to make them feel that way. The mistreatment that they experienced could be as minor as a crush embarrassing them in front of their friends or as major being molested by someone they trusted as a child. Making someone else feel the hurt and pain that you once felt and that was inflicted by someone else is just cruel to me. Get therapy, get help, do what you have to do…otherwise you will never be able to have a healthy, functional relationship and you will just be continuing the cycle…

The “Get You Before They Get Got” Type People: There are some people that have never been hurt but have this skewed logic that hurt is a part of all relationships so they decide they want to hurt other people first, before they are hurt themselves. This is just immaturity at its finest. No matter how hard you try, getting hurt is simply a part of life. Instead of trying to avoid it, embrace those learning experiences. The greatest and most fulfilling things in life require great risks! If you avoid taking those risks, you will never be able to reap those potential benefits and any hurt you experience along the way will only make you stronger for the undertaking of your next risk!

The “World Revolves Around Me” Type People: There are some people who are selfish. They are only concerned with themselves and who or what they can use to further their own agenda. Their agenda could be popularity or fame, could be getting rich, could be presenting a certain false image of themselves, trying to assure themselves or others of their importance, etc… (note the superficiality of all those things) A lot of these things are ways they try to fill a void by trying to convince the world that there is no void. “He’s rich? He must have everything he could ever want!!” “He’s got all these girls after him? What a lucky man!!” Please do NOT be fooled!

People that intentionally hurt other people, have issues! It is them, not you. You walk away feeling a little hurt and disappointed and they walk away with the same issues that they came in with, unresolved and awaiting a repeat with the next person. They will never have a healthy and functional relationship…but you? Once you deal with your emotions properly, you are ready for that next risk equipped with more smarts. Hopefully, you will not have to make that particular mistake twice. Nevertheless these people may come back with a new attitude, aware that you care for them, in terms of a relationship. But if someone cannot see past themselves and their personal issues to realize how amazing you are, then that is their loss and their mistake.

=)

Hurt?